Our Archives: Neutering

The COVID lockdown brought ‘emergency-only’ appointments for veterinary practices across the UK. For the first 8 weeks, your pet would only be given an appointment if a delay in being seen would severely affect their health or welfare. Vaccinations were put on hold; neutering appointments were cancelled… But the lockdown is lifting - so can your vets spay your pets?

This is a really interesting question, and raises a number of really valid points. To answer it, we need to look in more detail the reasons why dogs behave the way they do, and the hormonal influences on them.

This is a rather strange one (and I have to say I think it’s rather unfortunate it falls over Valentine’s Day!), but neutering is a major issue in animal health. There are three reasons for this - it’s widely carried out, there are population-level health benefits, but there are both advantages and disadvantages to neutering on the individual pet level.

Question from Pam Gilmour Hi my chi(huahua) is 6 months , he only has one testicle. I will be having him done, what would be the best age to wait to see if it will come down? Answer from Shanika (online vet) Hi Pam and thank you for your Question regarding the best age to have a dog castrated which has a retained testicle. I will start by explaining a little about the testicles, what they are, where they develop and what can go wrong along the way. The testicles are two oval shaped structures normally found in the scrotum (loose sac of skin near your dog’s bottom). Testicles are male sexual glands and produce the hormone testosterone along with sperm and various other secretions which assist in reproduction. The testicles start developing while the puppy is inside the mother’s uterus (womb); they are at first located inside the abdomen (tummy) and just behind the kidneys. A few days after your puppy has been born the testicles should be in the scrotum, they travel from their starting point down through the abdomen and through an opening called the inguinal ring in order to get to the scrotum. When you take your puppy to the vets to have his first examination they will check for the presence of two testicles in the scrotum, if these cannot be felt then this will be checked again on future visits.  If both testicles are not present this condition is referred to as cryptorchidism (retained testicles), either one (unilateral cryptorchid) or both (bilateral cryptorchid) of the testicles may be missing from the scrotum.  In very rare cases on or both of the testicles has not actually developed at all. What should you do if your dog has cryptorchidism? Your vet is likely to suggest that you wait to see if the missing testicle comes down into the scrotum at a later date, this would usually be by 6 months of age but in some cases can occur up to 1 year of age. What to do if the testicle does not appear? Your vet will discuss a castration procedure with you in which both testicles are removed, it is a simple procedure to remove under general anaesthesia the testicle present in the scrotum, the retained one has to be located in your dog’s abdomen, and this can take some time. The surgical procedure to find and remove the testicle from the abdomen can be tricky as the testicle which has not found its way to the scrotum is often smaller and therefore not so easy to locate in amongst the contents of your dog’s abdomen. Why should I have my dog castrated if he has cryptorchidism? If the testicles are not in their correct location in the scrotum there is an increased chance of them becoming diseased, such as developing into cancerous tissue. Also a dog with cryptorchidism is likely to have reduced fertility and would not be an ideal candidate for breeding. I hope that I have managed to answer your question regarding the timing of castration in a cryptorchid dog and have managed to explain some of the reasoning behind why it happens and what the best plan of treatment is. Shanika Winters MRCVS(online vet) If you are worried about your dog please book an appointment with your vet or use our online symptom checker.

It was just last month that I wrote a blog here about the pros and cons of the decision on whether or not to spay/castrate your dog. This seems to be an area which is coming under increasing scrutiny by researchers, perhaps because it is relatively easy to analyse stored data to discover differences between spayed/neutered and entire populations. After all, the contrast between two study groups doesn't get much more black and white than that: spayed/neutered or entire. In one of the most recent studies (published online in April 2013), the historical records of over 80,000 sterilized and reproductively intact dogs were examined from a database of dogs presented to North American veterinary teaching hospitals over a period between 1984 and 2004. The cause of death and the lifespan of each animal was noted. To make the data as "clean" and unbiased as possible, the researchers removed around half of the records. First, they took out all young dogs, and all those where the spay/neuter status had not been recorded. Then they took out all those dogs that had died from congenital disease (i.e. disease which the animal had been born with, which obviously could not be influenced by neutering). Finally, they removed all of those dogs where no specific cause of death could be categorised. This left them with 40,139 dogs for analysis of the relationship between the effect of spay/neuter on age and cause of death. The findings of the study are fascinating, and if you have an interest in reading scientific papers, you should read the report in full yourself. For those who don't wish to, there were two main findings. First, spaying/neutering caused dogs to live significantly longer lives. Females lived for 26.3% longer if they were spayed, and the life expectancy of males was increased by 13.8% after castration. Second, there was a striking effect of spaying/neutering on the cause of death. Spayed/neutered dogs were dramatically less likely to die of infectious disease, trauma, vascular disease and degenerative disease. In contrast, sterilized dogs died more commonly from neoplasia and immune-mediated disease. This difference was similar for both males and females. So what does this mean for pet owners? The study results could be taken to be broadly supportive of spaying and neutering both males and females, if length of life is taken as the most important outcome. It also suggests that owners of spayed/neutered dogs should be aware of the fact that their pets will be more likely to suffer from neoplasia or immune-mediated disease, and it would make sense to discuss with their vet what sort of signs they should look out for, so that if these diseases do develop, they will be well briefed in advance. I still stand by my recommendations in the previous blog: all pet owners should discuss spaying and neutering with their vet. It may not be the right decision for every pet, but on average, this study demonstrates that it's the most likely choice to lead to a longer life for your much loved pet.

I knew I wasn't going to breed from my Hungarian Viszla so I made the decision to have him neutered which I did at six months old. Since then I have been told by the breeding fraternity that neutering at such an early age is a factor in dogs getting bone cancer. I cannot bear that I may have done something in good faith that could affect my beloved dog's future health. What is the truth?

This question from a VetHelpDirect reader is an increasingly common query from pet owners responding to internet rumours and discussions that are doing the rounds. As is often the case, the truth is complicated: we still do not know everything about the impact of spay/neutering, but we do know that there are pluses and minuses to having the operations done.

In the past, it was more-or-less universally agreed that early spay/neuter was the best choice for all dogs and cats. New information from recent studies means that this one-size-fits-all advice now needs to be modified. It seems that spay/neuter of some breeds of young dogs may increase the risk of some some types of cancer. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that the operation also reduces the risk of other (common) cancers. A balanced view now may be that the decision needs to be made for an individual, after considering all factors, rather than just saying "early neutering is always best".

It does sound to me as in your case, with a Viszla, it was the correct decision. Early neutering is still strongly recommended for nearly all dogs as the best way to ensure that a dog is a good family pet. There are many behavioural advantages, such as stopping male dogs showing sexual behaviour, urine marking etc. And there are many health benefits too - reducing prostate disease, reducing certain types of cancer etc. And bone cancer is rare in Viszlas.

For female dogs, there are also many benefits from spaying. The operation eliminates the risk of unwanted pregnancy, dystocia and the physiological and behavioural changes associated with the six-monthly reproductive cycle. It eliminates the risk of pyometra, which occurs in 23% of intact females and kills approximately 1% of intact females. Mammary tumours are the most common malignant tumours in female dogs, and spaying before 2½ years of age greatly reduces the likelihood of this cancer.

Neutering and spaying has other beneficial effects on a society-wide basis: it prevents dogs from straying and dramatically reduces the problem of unwanted pups.

What about the negative aspects? A comprehensive review paper published in 2007 provides a detailed catalogue of the potential negative risks which seem to be more in some breeds and some cancers than others (e.g. more osteosarcoma in giant breeds like Newfoundlands and St Bernards). A more recent study on Golden Retrievers found an increased risk from other cancers and some joint diseases from early neutering but the study has been criticised by statisticians and other scientists as being potentially biased and not representative of the general population of dogs. It's likely that other studies are in the pipeline, so it's worth keeping an eye out for these in the coming years.

When reading these studies, it needs to be remembered that a big increase in the risk of a rare cancer may not be as significant to a pet as a small decrease in the risk of a common cancer. It is not easy for pet owners, unfamiliar with judging medical data, to assess these types of situations. What should pet owners do? Refuse to spay/neuter their pet, then blame themselves when their male dog develops anal tumours or when mammary cancer affects their female dog? Or go ahead and spay/neuter, then beat themselves up when their pet develops osteosarcoma?

The best answer is that there is no perfect choice. The take home message is that you should not ignore the subject: all pet owners should discuss this with their vet. A decision should be made after addressing all of the issues above. Only in the fullness of time will you know whether it was the right or wrong choice.

The most important issue is that you carefully consider the various implications: at least then, regardless of the outcome, you will be able to look back and say " I did my best to do the right thing".